


Family Resemblance

by SpellCleaver



Series: Xtober 2020 [14]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Cosplay, Empire Day, Flufftober 2020, Gen, Originally Posted on Tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:01:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29967450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpellCleaver/pseuds/SpellCleaver
Summary: Luke and Leia are trying to hide on Arkanis when some local customs for celebrating Empire Day help them out.
Relationships: Leia Organa & Luke Skywalker, Luke Skywalker & Darth Vader
Series: Xtober 2020 [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2112750
Comments: 16
Kudos: 89





	Family Resemblance

**Author's Note:**

> [Originally posted here](https://spell-cleaver.tumblr.com/post/631263997007675392/day-6-flufftober-quicksilver-flufftober) for the prompt "Quicksilver." Inspired by a conversation I had with some friends on Discord about whether or not Vader has merchandise in the GFFA!

Luke took a deep breath and tried to calm his breathing. Fett hadn't been there. Fett hadn't stopped by this part of the planet after all, and they'd risked everything to come to Arkanis for _no reason_.

They wouldn't find Han here.

But Vader might find them.

"I'm shielding as well as I can," Luke hissed to Leia, squeezing her hand tightly in this. The day was grey and overcast, rain sluicing out of the sky to drench the many layers of clothing they'd draped themselves in as a disguise. Luke had found his appreciation for the quicksilver rain short-lived, with its mercurial temperament and tendency to be, well, _cold and wet_ , and he seriously disliked the way it ran down his back.

They may be wearing those robes as a disguise, but their faces were the same, and too many people were glancing their way when the wind blew and the cloth fell away. "But he's gaining on us. He—" He swallowed, shudders racking his slim shoulders. "He's coming."

Leia squeezed his hand back. "It'll be fine, Luke," she said. He knew she was lying, there was no way she could know what it would be, but he appreciated the sentiment. "Don't worry. Everything will be fine."

They paused on a busy boulevard and—with some frantic glances left, right and centre—ducked into a souvenir shop just to the left of them, under the guise of tourists ducking out of the rain. There were coats and masks on sale in the corner—apparently a festival was coming up soon—so they made a beeline for over there, ducking behind the aisles and getting distance between them and the nearest patrons.

"Over here," he murmured. "Here are the—"

He nearly screamed.

Vader—

Vader was not here.

He sucked in a breath, shaking; Leia laid a hand on his shoulder and he tried to force himself to calm down. He was tempted to reach for the Force and release his fear into there, but he still had a distant sense of that dark searchlight scouring the area for him, claws reaching for wherever his mind may be, and he decided it wasn't worth the risk.

That was not Vader. Vader was not here. Not yet.

Instead, it was a souvenir mask based on Vader's—and a costume cloak hanging underneath it. Luke tried to calm down.

"Wait—what's the date again?" he whispered. He still wasn't used to using the wider Galactic Standard system rather than the dates on Tatooine, but— "Isn't it Empire Day next week?" It would also be his twenty-third birthday, he thought, but thinking about the fact that his birthday was Empire Day with the Bespin revelation still fresh in his mind was _not_ a fun thing to dwell on.

"It is." Leia snorted. "Patriotism. They're selling _Vader costumes_?"

"I guess that's one way to show… appreciation…" Luke trailed off, picking up a costume stormtrooper mask. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Leia nearly burst out laughing. "Absolutely not."

"There were some people wearing these out of the street, weren't there?" He gave her a look. "All we need is a wig as well…" He reached up to grab one on the shelf just above them, and plop it on his head. It was made of black, long hair that fell to his shoulders, and when he put on the stormtrooper's mask, Leia dissolved into snorts and giggles.

"Who do you want me to be?" she hissed at him. " _Vader_?"

"Nothing stopping you from being a stormtrooper as well."

Leia put on a blonde wig—Luke was struck by a strange familiarity looking at her; the two of them looked a lot more similar than he'd realised—and reached for the Vader mask anyway. She stared at it in her hand.

"When we get out of here," she said darkly, "I'm using this thing as target practise."

"Sounds good to me— hey!" Quick as a whip, she took his trooper mask and shoved the Vader one into his face; he peered at her through the eyeholes.

"You're too short to be a stormtrooper," she said matter-of-factly. "We've been over this."

"You're shorter than me!"

"Vader's on his way." Leia ignored him, and grabbed one of the black capes, sweeping it around his shoulders. "Ready to go, flyboy?"

"The Rogues will _never_ let me hear the end of this," he muttered.

She grabbed his hand and dragged him outside. A shopworker saw them go, but didn't even bother to shout at them about paying.

* * *

Later, after Luke had escaped the planet and jumped to hyperspace in one of those eternally frustrating manoeuvres he was an expert at pulling off, Vader combed through every inch of the security footage in the city to figure out how he did it.

Seeing the princess remove her mask, seeing her with blonde hair, struck a note of familiarity in him, though he couldn't have said why.

And seeing his son parade around dressed up as his father…

It was _mocking_. It was frustrating.

But it was, Vader admitted, as he saved that particular image to his steadily growing collection of holos of Luke, _not entirely unamusing_.


End file.
